Diver Jonathan Smith, of Rodeo, shows vistors a shark tooth he picked out of the sand in the Shark Experience tank at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. The park is celebrating Shark Week with a number of educational programs. (Chris Riley–Times-Herald)

Park-goers scream as they sit in facing, rotating seats on the new Batman: The Ride, touted as Northern California’s first 4D free fly coaster. at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo on Tuesday. (Chris Riley–Times-Herald)

Batman: The Ride, touted as Northern California’s first 4D free fly coaster. at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo on Tuesday. (Chris Riley–Times-Herald)

Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Justice League: Battle for Metropolis was among the theme park attractions to receive Thea Awards from the Themed Entertainment Association. (Courtesy of Themed Entertainment Association)

Six Flags Magic Mountain visitors ride Green Lantern: First Flight around the time of the attraction’s opening in July 2011. The ride, which operated for only six years, is being removed from the park. (File photo by Greg Grudt, Mathew Imaging)

Vallejo’s Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is opening a new 4D wing coaster,
Batman: The Ride, next spring. (Six Flags)

Feeling priced out by big theme parks such as Disneyland? Or maybe you’re just in the mood for something different?

Theme parks around the country this month have been announcing their new rides for the 2020 season. Here are five suggestions for parks that are building rides every bit as good as those at the big parks, but whose tickets cost a fraction of the big parks’ prices.

Holiday World in Santa Claus, Ind.: If you want to find the best value in the theme park industry, find your way next summer to this family-run park just off Interstate 64, about an hour west of Louisville, Kent., In addition to its four world-class roller coasters, Holiday World offers free parking, free sunscreen and free unlimited soft drinks. In 2020, its Splashin’ Safari water park is declaring itself the “water coaster capital of the world” by opening Cheetah Chase, its third such ride, which use magnets to propel rafts on roller coaster-style launches.

Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo.: One of the Ozarks’ top tourist attractions, Silver Dollar City is opening Mystic River Falls in 2020 — a rapids ride with what will be the biggest drop of its kind in the United States. Throw in the recently opened Time Traveler, the world’s tallest, fastest and steepest spinning coaster, and Outlaw Run, a top-flight coaster from the same company that did Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Twisted Colossus, and Silver Dollar City is well worth the journey, even before you tuck into the food that many consider among the best in the industry.

Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va.: SeaWorld’s sister park, located just down the road from Colonial Williamsburg, offers a European theme in one of the nation’s most beautifully landscaped parks. Its new ride for 2020, the Roman-themed Pantheon, uses the same ride system as the delightful Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure that opened this summer at Universal Orlando. But without the Harry Potter theme, perhaps fans will be able to get on Pantheon with less than Hagrid’s hours-long waits.

Hersheypark in Hershey, Pa.: Yes, it’s a candy-themed park in the chocolate company’s hometown. But its sweetest addition next year will be Candymonium, a 210-foot hyper coaster with a top speed of 76 miles per hour that will wrap around the park’s new entrance. If you visit, save time for the Hershey’s Chocolate World experience next door — a collection of Disney-style attractions devoted to the making of chocolate treats.

Visitors ride The Joker, a roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J. (Photo by Julio Cortez, Associated Press)

Roadtrip to a bunch of Six Flags parks: The Six Flags chain will announce all of its new rides for 2020 on Aug. 29. Its parks also offer deep discounts on annual passes and memberships that week, making it the best time of the year to get a Six Flags pass. But those passes and memberships are good for admission at all of the chain’s parks, too, making it possible to ride many of the world’s best roller coasters, in parks across the country, for less than the cost of a single day at Disneyland. With parks nearSan Francisco, Dallas, St, Louis, Chicago and Atlanta, as well as one in New Jersey halfway between New York and Philadelphia, Six Flags memberships can be a great deal for a thrill-loving family on the road for the summer.